It was spring again. Karis knew from observation that the first few days were often the most undisciplined for his sons after the winter festival, so he made it a point of going down and checking on them to see how they were faring.

Karis sighed. Being a parent to six volatile sons was hard work. The women had each only focused on their own sons. He was balancing all six and it was very difficult. He was still managing better than his father had with him, he thought, so that was a benefit. Rhys was the only one who resented him, and Rhys resented everyone who didn’t fit in with his world view.

Karis got to work. He had a lot of paperwork. Not to mention he had an Imperial wedding to plan. Summer would soon be here, and Lidia was wanting to get a head start on the wedding plans so everything was ready for that event as well.

He worked through his lunch, pausing only for a few bites of food in between paperwork and meetings. Then he went to do his audiences. After that, he met with Lidia. “Your Imperial Majesty, now will you tell me which of your courtesans you are going to marry?” She seemed quite perturbed that he was still keeping that a secret.

“Not yet, Lidia.” Karis shook his head. “You do not need that information to plan the wedding. We can set everything up without that.”

“It is going to be hard to plan the wedding dress and the attendants’ dresses without that information, Your Imperial Majesty.” She did have a point.

“I will marry her a month after I make the official announcement.” Karis knew they’d need time to make the dresses. “That should give the dressmakers and stylists plenty of time to make the gowns.”

“Ah, so you are not just going to announce it and get married the next day.” Lidia seemed relieved by that.

“No, Lidia.” Karis shook his head. “I will allow a little time for her to prepare.”

“That gives me a little time to work with.” Lidia pulled out her pad. “Now, what kind of high feast do you want? And what kind of formal dessert?”

“A typical high feast should be fine.” Karis paused as he remembered Sayana’s allergy. “No chocolate in the dessert though.”

“No chocolate, Your Imperial Majesty?” Lidia made a note on her pad.

“No chocolate. The lady in question is allergic to it. I do not plan on starting our married life together with her being violently ill.” Karis had plans for his wedding night and he didn’t want them interrupted by Sayana being physically sick from eating something she was allergic to.

“How odd. I have never met anyone who was allergic to chocolate.” She made another note.

“I have never met one either until I spoke to her. It seems both she and one of my sons share the same allergy, so in the future, we will be cutting back on chocolate in general.” Karis paused. “We will not cut it out completely. Even she understands we cannot do away with it entirely.”

Lidia nodded and made another note. “What about entertainments? I have a list of what we have available to us for the summer, Your Imperial Majesty.”

“Let me take a look.” She handed him her pad, and he went through the list, highlighting certain entertainments. “These are the ones I would prefer. See if they are available for summer and if they are, we will make our final selections from who is free then.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.” They continued working out the finer details of the event until it was time to dress for dinner. Karis went to dinner with the court but made an early night of it. He returned to his rooms, finished his paperwork, and went to bed.

The next day, the council meeting ran long as they sorted out some details of some issues that had come up during the night. Karis spoke with a few of the courtiers on his way out. He made his way down to the enclave. The princes should have been at practice. He heard shouting and quickened his pace. It sounded like there was a fight going on.

Rhys was facing off against Ethian, a vibroblade in his hand. Ethian was trying to talk Rhys down, but nothing he said was having any noticeable effect on the other young man. Rhys lunged and slashed at Ethian again. “Ethian, he’s not listening. You have to fight,” Reynard called.

Ethian reluctantly drew his vibroblade and activated it. Rhys slashed again. It was obvious Rhys didn’t know how to use the blade effectively. Ethian countered him and slashed back at Rhys’ chest. Rhys jumped back and then lunged forward again. The other princes were shouting at Rhys to stop, but he ignored them.

The two boys circled each other, Rhys attacking often and Ethian mostly countering Rhys’ blows. Then Rhys got in a lucky strike and cut Ethian’s blade arm. It looked like a deep cut and Rhys let out a triumphant shout.

Karis watched as Ethian went from reluctant to impassive in a matter of seconds. He switched the blade to his uninjured hand and went after Rhys. He moved with a ferocity that belied his youth. Rhys backpedaled and struggled to keep Ethian at bay. Ethian was relentless and when Rhys left himself wide open, Ethian struck, driving his blade into Rhys’ heart.

Rhys crumpled to the ground with a gasp. Ethian stared down at Rhys, his expression going from impassive to horrified. He staggered back and burst into tears. Karis entered the practice area and put an arm around his son’s shoulders. “Ethian, it is all right. You did nothing wrong. Rhys was trying to kill you. You had to defend yourself. I do not blame you at all.” Karis held him close.

“It does not make Rhys any less dead, Father,” Ethian choked out. “I killed him. With my own hands.”

Karis recognized the signs from his own experience. He looked up at Reynard, who had a concerned look on his face. “I will send servants to collect Rhys’ body. I will have him taken to the traitors’ graves. Can you see to the others? I will take care of Ethian.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.” Reynard could tell immediately that this was something that Karis needed to handle.

“Come with me, Ethian.” Karis walked back into the main room of the enclave and motioned for one of the servants. “Rhys is dead. Have the body taken to the traitors’ graves and buried there. I also want an Imperial doctor to attend to my son as soon as possible. We will be in my rooms.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.” The servant bowed.

He took Ethian back to his suite. “Imre, I do not care what is on my schedule today. Cancel it. I have something more important to deal with.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.” Imre saw the blood and the tears and knew something had happened.

“Also, I want Demetrios to look into what set Rhys off this morning. He should not have had access to a vibroblade, and I want to know if it was his idea or if something was a catalyst.” Karis wanted to know where Rhys had gotten the vibroblade because he knew his son hadn’t started his training with it and had his taken away from him because Nuri didn’t trust him with it.

“I’ll send the message at once, Your Imperial Majesty.” Imre pulled out his pad.

“Sit down, Ethian.” Karis pushed his distraught son onto the couch. Ethian sat and Karis sat down next to him. “Can you tell me what happened? I missed the start of it.”

“We were all getting ready to start our daily exercises. Some servants I did not know came out into the yard. They were acting strangely, but Rhys seemed to recognize them, so he went up to them. They gave him a data cube and left. He took the data cube and looked at it. After that it was like a switch flipped. He just grabbed Fallon’s vibroblade and attacked me.” Ethian looked at his father with tear-filled eyes. “He said that his mother told him that mother and I were all that stood in his way of being the heir, and that he needed to eliminate me.”

Karis’ heart clenched. Angharad had sent Rhys a message. It had to have been her servants down there that morning. He made it a point to have her servants questioned. He saw Imre slip out of the room. He would see to that for him.

“Ethian, listen to me.” Karis reached up and brushed the hair out of his son’s eyes. “I know how hard it is to take a life. I have done it myself. I was violently sick the first time I did it. It is never easy. But like my first time, it was him or you. I am sorry Rhys died, but in a way you have saved me some trouble.”

“But I killed my brother.” Ethian choked on that. “He was just doing what he felt was best for him. We cannot just go around killing people for doing what they think is best.”

“We can if it endangers the lives of others we are trying to protect.” Karis knew this was a hard lesson to learn for someone who hadn’t been raised in the Imperial family. “That is part of being who we are.”

“It is?” Ethian looked at him with wide eyes.

Imre returned and let in the Imperial doctor. He cleaned Ethian’s wound and slapped a regenerator on it. They didn’t speak again until the regenerator came off and the doctor left. “Yes, Ethian, it is. That is what makes us different from other people. The power of life and death is in our hands, and we can choose to dispense that power as we see fit. That is why we must be very careful.”

“I should have tried harder to disarm Rhys, not kill him.” Ethian’s voice dripped with bitterness.

“I do not think you could have disarmed him.” Karis had a feeling Rhys wouldn’t have given up on the attempt to rid himself of his youngest brother. “Even if you had, he would just have tried to kill you again. He might even have tried while you were sleeping. When you were defenseless. Would that have served any purpose?”

“No.” Ethian stared at his father. “But I still killed him. I think that is going to bother me for a very long time.”

“I would be very disappointed in you if it did not.” Karis put an arm around Ethian’s shoulders. “You are fundamentally a good person, Ethian. You value life. That is a worthwhile trait to have. Sometimes though you have to let go of that and realize there are just some people who you have to kill. I do not like killing people either, Ethian. Yet I have sent people to be executed. Do you think that makes me a monster?”

“No.” Ethian spoke slowly, clearly trying to think it through. “Because you must have had a very good reason for sending them to be executed.”

“Let me tell you a story, Ethian.” Karis told Ethian about Lynet and her plot to either steal or kill the princes. Then he told him about his council and their attempt to kill him when he was a young boy, explaining what his mother and Reynard never could. He explained about Vasco and how he’d decimated the court until his death, and how his suicide had robbed Karis of the chance to find Sayana and Ethian when Ethian was still very young.

“You had all of them executed.” Ethian watched his father closely.

“I did.” Karis was very serious as he spoke to his son. “They were traitors and endangered the lives of someone I cared about. I was not about to let that go unpunished. I have sent very few people to the executioners, Ethian. I do not choose death as a punishment lightly.”

“Is death sometimes the only answer though?” That was a very good question coming from Ethian.

“It is.” Karis gave him the best answer he could. “It is up to us to realize when that situation comes up, and judge accordingly. We must never take a life casually. We must think long and hard about it. But when the time comes, we must make that decision as firmly as we make any other.”

“It did not seem like I made any kind of decision when it came to Rhys.” Ethian had that haunted look in his eyes that Karis recognized. “It was like my mind and my body were acting independently of each other.”

“That is what good training does to you, Ethian.” Karis knew firsthand what a good teacher could do for someone. “It teaches you to react to certain situations without thinking about what you are going to do. Rhys wanted you to fight. He wanted to kill you, and you took your training with the vibroblade and prevented your own death. That is the point of what Reynard has been trying to teach you.”

“Did you learn from a warmaster?” Ethian wanted to know.

“No, from a guard trainer.” Karis gave him a serious look. “I still spar with her from time to time, though she is getting ready to retire. She is training up her replacement to spar with me in my spare time though so I can keep my reflexes up. I should make more time to practice than I do. I will have to work on that.”

“Even you practice fighting?” Ethian seemed to need to hear this from him.

“Yes, Ethian. I also carry two vibroblades and know how to use them. I have had to use them multiple times during my reign. It is a good idea to know how to defend yourself because you never know when the Imperial guards could be incapacitated or absent and you need to fight.” Karis hoped he’d never have to use his vibroblades again but knew he wasn’t going to be that lucky.

Ethian still looked disturbed. Karis continued talking to him. They talked late into the night. Imre didn’t insist that Karis go to bed at midnight for once, leaving father and son to talk. It was obvious that this was more important than a little lost sleep.

Finally, a few hours before dawn, Ethian looked like he was coming to accept his actions. Karis sent him back to the princes’ enclave to get some sleep. He didn’t go to bed himself. He rang for Adem. “Let Imre sleep.” Adem came in, yawning. “I need some answers, Adem.”

“I’ll do what I can, Your Imperial Majesty.” Adem waited for Karis to give him his orders.

“Go to Demetrios. Ask him if he found the message that was sent to Rhys. I want the exact wording. And to know if it shows who it came from.” Karis had a good idea where it came from, but he wanted proof.

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.” Adem vanished out the door.

An hour later, Adem returned. “What did he say?” Karis waited for the report. He knew he could have requested it through the usual channels, but that would have meant waiting for Demetrios to wake up. This was urgent in his mind.

“He grumbled a bit about you keeping odd hours.” Adem grinned. “Then he told me they’d gone through Rhys’ things. They found a data cube with a message on it telling Rhys to kill Ethian because he and Lady Sayana are the obstacles in the way of Rhys being named heir. There was no name on the message, but they were able to pull the digital signature from the recording device and were able to match it to Angharad’s pad.”

“So Angharad did tell Rhys to kill Ethian.” Karis was now certain Angharad was behind the attack on Ethian the day before.

“There’s more, Your Imperial Majesty. They found several other data cubes in his collection, all with messages from Angharad. Apparently, she’s been feeding him tales of his superiority even though she wasn’t supposed to have any contact with him.” Adem was unaware of the repercussions of her actions, but Karis wasn’t.

“That woman consistently breaks the rules and now her son is dead because of it.” Karis shook his head. “She has no one to blame but herself.”

“Shall I send a message to Lord Arken to tell him what’s happened?” Adem pulled out his pad.

“Yes, you had better.” Karis nodded. “He will have heard rumors by now. He needs the full story.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.” Adem sent the message.

Karis got up and started pacing. He was going to have to neutralize Angharad before she did any more harm. With Rhys gone, she couldn’t harm the princes. But she was still a threat to Sayana. Yet what could she do now that her son was dead? She’d played a role in the attack on Ethian, but how much guilt could he assign her?

He continued thinking about that for the rest of the time until breakfast, when Imre returned and saw to it he had a good breakfast to see him through the morning. “Cancel my council meeting, Imre. I am too tired to deal with them today.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.” Imre sent the message. “How is Prince Ethian?”

“I think he will be all right. It will still take him some time to come to grips with what he did, but it will not be the tearing guilt it was yesterday.” Karis rubbed his eyes. “Which was the purpose of talking to him.”

“That’s good to hear, Your Imperial Majesty.” Imre was relieved by this. It seemed he had some care for the young prince as well.

One of the Imperial guards let a very agitated servant from the courtesan wing into the room. “Your Imperial Majesty, Angharad stabbed Sayana.” She blurted out her message and was as pale as snow when she spoke.

“What?” Karis’ blood ran cold.

“Just this morning, she got the news that Ethian killed Rhys. When she learned Ethian wasn’t going to be punished for it, she went insane and attacked Sayana.” The servant spoke fast, and it was clear she was very anxious about the situation. “Lord Arken has called for the doctors, but it looks serious. The guards have taken Angharad to the prison cells.”

“Is Sayana dead?” A cold lump of dread settled in Karis’ stomach.

“No, Your Imperial Majesty.” The servant shook her head. “At least she wasn’t when I was sent to tell you what happened. The doctors took her to the med lab and were working on her.”

“Imre, I am going to have a word with the doctors.” Karis didn’t care how it looked. He had to know how serious her condition was.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less, Your Imperial Majesty.” Imre knew him well enough to know he needed this.

“Thank you.” Karis looked at the servant. She bowed and hurried out.

Karis made his way to the med lab closest to the courtesan wing. “How is she?”

“She’s in serious but stable condition, Your Imperial Majesty,” one of the doctors told him. “One of the stab wounds punctured her lung and another nicked her carotid artery. She lost a lot of blood, but we got her into surgery right away. We’re getting both wounds sealed and we’ve started her on blood replacement. She’s had one unit already and we’ve got her on another. We plan on keeping her out for a couple days because of the lung puncture once she’s out of surgery and off the regenerators, just to be safe.”

“Would it be all right if I allowed her son to come sit with her until she wakes up?” Karis thought of how Ethian would take hearing about his mother’s condition.

“Of course, Your Imperial Majesty.” The doctor glanced over her shoulder. “She should be out of surgery in the next couple of hours. He can hold her hand and keep her company if he wishes.”

“I will send him when he wakes up. He had a late night, and I do not want to wake him any earlier than I have to.” Karis was exhausted from staying up all night, but he knew he had to continue to function as emperor. He couldn’t take the day off.

“Of course, Your Imperial Majesty.” The doctor seemed to understand. She probably knew the gossip as well as everyone else did by now.

He gave Ethian until after lunch and then went down to the princes’ enclave. Ethian pounced on his father as soon as he appeared. “Father, is it true my mother was attacked this morning?”

“I take it the servants are gossiping?” Karis waited for an answer.

“Yes.” Ethian looked at his father. “Is it true?”

“Yes, Ethian. Your mother was attacked this morning. I came down to see if you would like to go sit with her in the med lab until she wakes up.” Karis could see the desperation in Ethian’s eyes.

“Can I? What about the rules governing Imperial courtesans?” Ethian knew them as well as Karis did, but it was obvious he wanted to sit with her.

“This is a special occasion.” Karis put a hand on his shoulder. “I will bend those rules for you.”

“Then yes, I would really appreciate the opportunity to stay with her until she wakes up.” Ethian looked ready to head to the med lab right then.

“Reynard, would you inform Ethian’s scholar teacher that he will not be in lessons for a couple days? He is going to be in the med lab with his mother.” Karis turned to his warmaster teacher.

Reynard nodded. “I’ll inform her.”

“Thank you.” Karis gestured. “Come along, Ethian.” The two made their way to the med lab. Ethian was set up in a comfortable chair that would recline back so he could sleep and stay with his mother. Karis left him holding her hand and talking to her about his life with the princes.